E-Paper
The year that was: Financial crisis and political bouts mark Andhra’s year
The latest scheme launched by Jagan to mobilise funds from people in the name of regularising the houses of the poor under One Time Settlement (OTS) scheme has also come under sharp criticism from the opposition parties.
Prefer HTon Google
Landslide victories of the ruling YSR Congress party in the local body elections and by-elections, alleged witch-hunt of political opponents by the ruling party, continued confrontation with the constitutional bodies by the Jagan Mohan Reddy government and unprecedented financial crisis amidst implementation of welfare schemes are some of the major developments in Andhra Pradesh in 2021.
Confrontation with state election commission
The year began with the confrontation with the state election commission headed by Nimmagadda Ramesh Kumar, who announced the elections to the gram panchayats in February. The Jagan government strongly resisted the announcement and moved court, but failed to get a positive verdict.
However, the ruling YSRC won the gram panchayat elections and subsequent municipal polls with a huge majority, decimating the main opposition Telugu Desam Party. In the block parishad, zilla parishad and municipal elections, the YSRC bagged more than 90 per cent of the seats.
The ruling party also won the by-election to the Tirupati parliamentary seat held in April and to the Badwel assembly seat in November with a huge mandate. The YSRC also conquered all the local body elections in Kuppam, the bastion of TDP president N Chandrababu Naidu in Chittoor district.
Setbacks on legal front
However, the Jagan government received a series of setbacks on the legal front. The state high court struck down the CID probe into the alleged insider trading in Amaravati, the state capital region. The government got a jolt even in the Supreme Court on the issue.
The government witnessed similar setbacks in the high court in many other instances like striking down of the orders stripping former Union minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju of his post in the royal family trusts, closure of Sangam Dairy, and Amara Raja Batteries case.
Following a high court order, the CBI also arrested several YSRC social media activists in the alleged abuse of judiciary on social media. The arrest of a few YSRC leaders close to Jagan’s cousin and Kadapa MP Y V Avinash Reddy caused an embarrassment to the state government.
Witch-hunt of Jagan’s political rivals
The alleged witch-hunt of Jagan’s political rivals was also a major highlight of the YSRC rule in 2021. The attack on TDP official spokesman K Pattabhi and his subsequent arrest, the attack on the residence of Chandrababu Naidu at Amaravati, the arrest of rebel YSRC MP K Raghurama Krishnam Raju in a CID case and his alleged torture in the CID custody hit the headlines during the year.
The year also witnessed two major movements – one the year-long agitation by workers of Visakhapatnam Steel Plant against the Centre’s decision to privatise it and the 400-km-long padayatra by the farmers of Amaravati to retain the capital city at their place. Both the agitations are still continuing with all the political parties joining the stir.
U-turn on laws on three capitals
The Jagan government took a U-turn on two major issues. It repealed the laws seeking to create three capitals for Andhra Pradesh, but vowed to bring them back without legal issues. Secondly, it also sought to restore the state legislative council, which it wanted to abolish last year.
For the TDP, which lost most of the elections it had contested in the year, the biggest shock was the way the YSRC humiliated Chandrababu Naidu on the floor of the assembly by allegedly passing vulgar comments against his wife. A visibly shaken Naidu broke down before the media and vowed to enter the assembly again only after becoming the chief minister in the next elections.
Welfare schemes and financial crisis
During the course of the year, the Jagan government has implemented a majority of its welfare schemes, but at the same time, faced an unprecedented financial crisis. It was accused of resorting to indiscriminate borrowings, selling public assets and diverting funds from central government schemes and panchayat raj bodies to fund its welfare schemes and manage day-to-day expenses.
The latest scheme launched by Jagan to mobilise funds from people in the name of regularising the houses of the poor under One Time Settlement (OTS) scheme has also come under sharp criticism from the opposition parties.
